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The percentage of services delayed and cancelled in each of the last two quarters is set out in the following table.

As outlined in the Oil and Gas Production Statistics 2016-17 publication, 82 per cent of all oil and gas production in the UK across this period was produced in Scotland (including Scottish adjacent waters). Looking at gas production only, Scottish production represented 63 per cent of total gas production in the UK continental shelf. Hence, while it is the case that the UK as a whole has a significant dependency on imported gas, Scotland clearly has an abundance of natural gas resources. In fact in 2015, Scottish gas production represented roughly six times that of final consumption from within Scotland. To access this figure as well as view the level of gas imports over the last 10 years, please refer to the SNAP Commodity Balances and Trade 2015 statistical publication (see link).

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Economy/oilgas

The draft Energy Strategy identifies that 75 per cent of total energy consumption in Scotland is currently supplied by oil and gas. Going forward, the Scottish Government recognises the important role that hydrocarbons will continue to play in our energy mix, especially as we transition to a low-carbon economy.

Salt supplies came under extreme pressure during the severe winters of 2008-09 and 2010-11. Despite this, no roads authority ran out of salt.

Scotland's 32 local authorities are responsible for the maintenance and safe operation of the local road network, including Winter Service Operations and its own salt management. This includes all footways, footpaths and cycle tracks not in private ownership.

Salt stocks are fundamental to a successful winter on our roads and we currently have more salt in stock than was used for the whole of last winter. National salt figures are published on Transport Scotland’s website: https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/salt-group-situation-report/.

The Scottish Salt Group was established during the severe winter conditions early in 2010. The group includes representatives of Transport Scotland (TS), the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland (SCOTS), the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE). The Scottish Salt Group monitored the restocking process throughout the summer and met with suppliers to confirm there is adequate salt production to meet the demand. Road authorities recognise the need to have good salt stocks in advance of the start of winter to increase resilience and reduce reliance on in-season restocking.

BEAR Scotland manages and maintains the North-East trunk roads on behalf of Transport Scotland and this includes the A90 and A92 within the Dundee City Council boundary.

This would only be considered if the current commercial service ceased to operate and no alternative operator chose to operate the route on a commercial basis. The cost of a PSO on the Benbecula to Glasgow air route would be dependent on the specification of the service in terms of elements such as frequency, capacity and fare level and would be subject to an open tender exercise so as to ensure that best value was achieved.

We know heavy snowfall causes disruption and Transport Scotland continue to recognise the importance of a reliable and resilient transport network to people and the economy.

Transport Scotland is responsible for preventing snow and ice endangering the safe passage of pedestrians and vehicles on trunk roads in Scotland. Significant planning is undertaken in advance of winter to ensure that the trunk road operating companies are prepared and to share lessons learned from previous years. The operating companies each have a Winter Service Plan, which is available online at:

https://www.transport.gov.scot/our-approach/keep-scotland-moving/winter-service/#42965.

New contract specifications, specialist plant trials and innovations, greater use of technology and getting information to people ‘on the move’ are just a few of the ways we have strengthened the winter treatments, decision making and communication with road users on our trunk roads.

With a fully mobilised winter fleet of 208 spreaders with snow ploughing capability, our winter service capability has never been higher; and our pre-winter preparations, audits, scenario workshops and weekly winter calls will ensure that there is no room for complacency in our winter service despite the recent mild winters. Total salt in stock in Scotland on 7 November 2017 was 580,245 tonnes (including 83,750 tonnes of strategic salt). This represents 173% of total used in winter 2016-17.

Transport Scotland continues to recognise the importance of a reliable and resilient transport network to people and the economy. To sustain this improvement, an ambitious programme of actions is being taken forward for the coming winter. These actions include hiring an all-terrain 4x4 (Unimog) to trial as a patrol vehicle on the M80 to mitigate accessibility issues should another snow event occur on a strategic corridor.

Working closely with its Operating Companies’ supply chain partners, Transport Scotland has identified the opportunity to review operating practices and use of specialist ploughs during snow events; particularly at vulnerable locations such as gradients.

We work with our partners, including Police Scotland and the Met Office, in our state of the art control centre to keep Scotland moving across the winter months and we continue to use the best available technology to give road users the most up to date information about the roads when they require it.

Salt stocks are fundamental to a successful winter on our roads and we currently have more salt in stock than was used for the whole of last winter. National salt figures are published on Transport Scotland’s website: https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/salt-group-situation-report/

The payment mechanism for the provision of winter service through our Operating Company contracts is a fixed ‘monthly sum’. This includes the procurement of salt, winter fleet and equipment for use on our trunk roads.

For this winter season, we have further invested in specialist plant. This includes an all-terrain 4x4 (Unimog) for use as a winter patrol vehicle on the M80, a Relief Vehicle for use during severe flooding events and a state of the art combi spreader for development of our liquid treatment trials.

The Scottish Salt Group monitored the restocking process throughout the summer and met with suppliers to confirm there is adequate salt production to meet the demand and that restocking targets for Scotland are being met.

Following the salt shortage of 2010-11, strategic salt was purchased (in addition to operational salt) and costs incurred to date are £11.9 million; inclusive of the purchase, haulage and storage. We have a strategic salt supply managed by the Scottish Salt Group of approx. 83,750 tonnes and requests from local roads authorities to use our strategic salt will be considered during emergencies.

Floods are natural events and can affect all modes of transport however, safety for all transport users is our primary concern.

(a) We have treated local government very fairly, despite the cuts to the Scottish Budget from the UK Government.

Taking the 2017-18 local government finance settlement plus the other sources of income available to councils through reforms to council tax and funding for Health and Social Care Integration, the overall increase in spending power to support local authority services amounted to over £383 million or 3.7 per cent.

The vast majority of the funding provided by the Scottish Government to local government is in the form of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities, including the Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives.

Reducing flood risk is a priority for the Scottish Government and we are working in partnership with SEPA, local authorities and others to deliver the first round of flood risk strategies. As part of this, we are making £42 million available each year to local authorities to invest in flood protection. For background, the first round of the flood risk strategies which deliver actions to reduce flood risk across Scotland were published in December 2015 and cover a 6 year cycle to 2021.

We are a strategic partner of the Scotland National Centre for Resilience (NCR) and feed into their work which aims to improve on the understanding of the impact of natural hazards and provide support to responders and communities including practical tool kits and resources for those who operate on the ground, and to ensure communities across the country are fully and adequately prepared for natural hazards such as flooding and landslides.

We are also seeking to obtain a national register of emergency temporary flood (defence) assets that we could use upon request, in conjunction with the various local authority Local Planning District flood forums. In addition, we are participating in Regional Resilience Partnership events to stress-test resilience response to severe weather including flooding.

(b) Our Trunk Road Operating Companies are contracted to ensure that drainage systems are maintained, are structurally sound and are able to remove water from trafficked surfaces and sub-layers without causing pollution or flooding and that the effects of any flooding are mitigated.

Information contained within our asset management systems allows operators to assess the whole network and to identify those areas at greater risk from flooding. This allows capital investment funds to be allocated to drainage improvement schemes using a risk-based approach with the aim of reducing the likelihood or consequence of flooding. As part of this approach we have made funds of £3m available this financial year to carry out maintenance and improvements to drainage systems across the Scottish trunk road network.

Our Operating Companies routinely inspect the trunk road network at 7-day intervals. These inspections are primarily to identify defects that require prompt attention (Category 1 defects) because they present, or could present, an immediate hazard to road users. This includes issues associated with flooding and drainage. Flooding events are recorded and this information is used to inform the development of future maintenance and investment programmes.

In addition to this, our Operating Companies also monitor the trunk road network during periods of heavy or sustained rainfall to provide an appropriate response endeavouring to keep roads open where possible or to close them should the flooding compromise the safety of road users. They have appropriate plant, equipment and resources including traffic management strategically placed across the trunk road network to deal with flooding events in a timely and effective manner.

Our Operating Companies are required to attend any incident on the trunk road network within 20 minutes on our major routes where we operate a Trunk Road Incident Support Service (TRISS) or within a maximum of 1.5 hours response time on all other routes through our Incident Support Units. Should the flooding cease to abate further secondary and back-up plant, equipment and resources are available at short notice to be deployed and assist with alleviating the flooding issues encountered.

In March 2013, Transport Scotland opened the purpose-built Traffic Scotland National Control Centre (TSNCC) at South Queensferry which aims to reduce journey times across the transport network through direct communication with the travelling public, via a number of media platforms, especially during periods of severe weather.

The TSNCC also hosts the Multi-Agency Response Team (MART) arrangements which co-ordinates a joined-up response during weather events including flooding. Partners include Police Scotland, Operating Companies, the Scotrail Alliance and the Met Office, and provides a strategic overview of event and incident handling.

Transport Scotland is working with the ScotRail Alliance to prepare for potential severe winter weather and expect to see further improvements in operational and customer services and travel advice offered. The preparedness will include snow clearing equipment and machines.

ScotRail will implement a robust communications plan ensuring passengers are prepared for adverse weather, including customer road shows at key stations throughout December, and the creation of a dedicated website and social media campaign for key messages.

ScotRail is obliged to provide the resources to operate the services as set out in the Franchise Agreement, which includes those required for winter preparation measures.

There are 803 carriages in the Abellio ScotRail (ASR) fleet and they will operate over winter 2017-2018. In the coming months ScotRail will gradually introduce new electric Class 385 trains.

Transport Scotland monitors the franchisee’s quality of facilities at stations and on train through a Service Quality Incentive Regime (SQUIRE). This includes on-train heating to ensure that the temperature in use should not fall below 10 degrees Celsius.

Since the franchise commenced the audits have recorded isolated occurrences where trains have failed to meet the standards as a result of temperature issues.

The Scottish Government does not hold the detailed cost breakdown on the amount spent clearing rail tracks of debris in the calendar year, 2016, nor the estimate of expenditure for 2017. However, we would expect, as funder and specifier, that Network Rail will deploy sufficient resources to meet its performance and reliability requirements in Scotland.